Character Creation

==Neverwinter Nights is a very imaginative game. Like most other Dungeons and Dragons games, you can fully customize your main character. This particular game takes it a lot further, making it very close to designing a real pen and paper character, without all the hassle of checking everything over manually. With the added addition of customizable adventure modules, there is much offered by the game, so making a good character to start with is a good idea.

My main character at this game is Raiksha Nightblade, a human rogue. Let me illustrate to you how the character creation process works, and my rationale for why I chose everything the way I did. This is intended as an example, of what kind of preparation can be done if you are really determined to create a unique character. After this run through I will go through the basics about character creation in the hopes of extending what is said in the manual. The Creation of Raiksha Nightblade

The first four things that you will have to do is pick your character's gender, race, class and portrait. Gender has no effect on your character's abilities, but will affect how other people treat you in the game, be they NPC or PC. Your race affects your ability scores and will give you a list of abilities. Your portrait is purely aesthetic - try to pick one that matches your race/class combination and that you find appealing. The class that you choose now is your beginning class - that could very easily change over the course of your career. The fifth choice before getting into the statistics is your alignment. This is covered in the manual, so I won't describe them here. Your alignment dictates how you should act in the world and what options will be available to you over the course of your journeys.

At this point lets stop to talk about Raiksha. She is human and is a rogue. She is a rogue because I wanted a character based on skills, and not spells or pure fighting. The Sneak Attack skill is a nice little bonus to have too. She is a human so that she can have an extra feat at first level and for the addition of the extra skill points. A halfling would have made another good choice here, except that the lower strength score and skill points would have hurt the template that I wished to create here. As for the portrait, take a look at the one I chose. Raiksha isn't the prettiest of girls, but neither is she strikingly ugly. The glare is one of mystery, the nose is one that looks to be oft broken and the hair is red. All ideal for the character that I wish to create. Finally, Raiksha is a champion of the poor, one who does what she must, while ignoring the restraints that society wishes her to bear. Chaotic Good? Yes, she certainly is!

After these basic changes it is time to go into the ability scores, skills, feats and spells. It is easy to see that Raiksha will have no spells, but it is harder to decide on what to give her for ability scores. I chose to give her a strength of 14 (she has to fight), a dexterity of 16 (most of her skills depend on it), constitution and wisdom of 10 (no penalties to saving throws), intelligence of 14 (+2 skill points and bonuses to skills), and a charisma of 12 (Persuade! Good for low levels, but will divert points elsewhere later). This will make her relatively good for the skills that I have chosen for her. Next I went to the packages section and decided to configure my own package for her. Open Lock, Move Silently, Set Trap, Disable Trap, Search, Spot, Listen, and Hide are all rogue skills that she needs. Lore and Persuade are there as helper skills. As for the last four skill points, for the start I have decided to split them into three different skills - 2 into Use Magical Device (won't see many of these at low levels), one into Heal (might have to help people in a party situation), and one into Pick Pockets (might have to steal something, even though Raiksha prefers not to). As for feats, I wanted Raiksha to fight with a pair of weapons, so I gave her Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting to start with, with plans of getting other combat feats in ensuing levels.

The last thing to do is finish customizing your character. This is purely an aesthetic thing, so do it however you want! You can change her model to match what you want, add your name in, write up a biography, choose a deity (no list, just make up a name, if you are unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms deities) and pick a voice (Female Seductress for Raiksha). Now there is Raiksha!

ClassesIn this section I will list the pros and cons of using each of the classes, as well as make some notes on the effectiveness of multiclassing them. I will also suggest abilities, feats and skills for starting one.

Multiclassing Multiclassing is the process of adding a level of another class to your primary class. You can have up to three classes in Neverwinter Nights. Multiclassing can be used to diversify your character, but will reduce the power of some of the classes in the game.

Each race has a favored class. They receive no experience penalties when raising levels in this class. Humans and half elves automatically have their starting class as their favored class. As soon as you have two non-favored classes, your experience will be penalized by 20%, if those classes are more than two levels apart. So watch out how you multiclass!

I have mentioned multiclass suggestions for each class below. Please refer to them for more information. I have made sure to consider all abilities, but may have missed a few (there are thousands of ways to make effective characters).

Barbarian The barbarian is a top notch fighting class. They have more hit points then a fighter, and get the ability to go berserk. They make pretty good solo characters, but their inability to wear heavy armor puts them at a disadvantage to fighters.

Barbarians don't have to multiclass to succeed. Taking a level of fighter for the free feats is a good idea (you will get the ability to use heavy armor, as well as another free feat), and doesn't really affect you in the long run. Taking four levels of fighter early in your career will allow you to specialize in your weapon of choice. None of the other classes are very appealing to multiclass with.

Barbarians should raise their mental faculties to 10, their strength to at least 16, and split the rest between dexterity and constitution. Discipline, Taunt, Heal, Spot and Search all good skills for them to put their points in. As for feats, they need Power Attack and Cleave. Heavy Armor Proficiency is good too. Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting are required for double weapons. Knockdown, Disarm and Dodge are also nice to have.

Bard The bard is not a very exceptional class in my opinion. They are weak fighters and weak spell casters. Their one advantage is their Perform skill, which gives them several stat increases when it is being played.

It is not really worth multiclassing a bard. They can do most things to some extent, so they don't really have a need to flesh themselves out.

Bards need a high charisma, dexterity and intelligence. The rest aren't really needed. The best skills for a bard is Perform, Use Magic Device, Persuade and Open Locks. They can benefit from more skills, but these are the basic ones that they should have. As for feats, the only one that they really need is Skill Focus in Perform. The rest doesn't really matter. Cleric Clerics are masterful healers. They are great characters and have wonderful buff spells. They are a little better in groups, but you can solo the single player game really easy with them, especially since they can wear heavy armor. Taking some combat feats will help make your cleric behave like a fighter. Their Turn Undead ability is useful whenever you have to fight the foul beasts. Large portions of the game are made up of these beasts.

Clerics don't have to multiclass, and doing so can even be a bad idea. You need level 17 to even get the top spells, and each level thereafter gets you more of them. So don't take any other classes to maximize your power.

Clerics should start with a wisdom of 16, and should raise their strength and constitution scores. Charisma is needed to turn undead as well. The only feat that they need is Extra Turning, but combat feats are always nice for them to have. As for skills, they need Spellcraft and Concentration - anything else is a bonus. ==

==Druid == ==The druid is a lot like the cleric, but with more nature oriented spells. They have lower grade armor, so dexterity is a little better for them to have. They get several special abilities that other classes don't get, most having to do with nature. At higher levels they can turn into elementals on top of being able to morph into animals. Don't multiclass your druid! They lose power in much the same ways as does the cleric. Druids need high wisdom (16 is perfect if you increase it every four levels), and a mediocre constitution and dexterity. Spellcraft, Lore, Animal Empathy are all good skills to have. Feats aren't at all necessary, just choose some that match your playing style. ==

FighterThe fighter is the basic tank in the game. The Third Edition gave the fighter some abilities in the form of feats, and the fighter gets a lot of them! On top of getting regular feats, they also get an extra one every second level.

Feel free to multiclass a fighter any way you want to. Adding a ranger level will add a pair of free feats. Adding a rogue level or three will give you a sneak attack. Any way that you look at it, a fighter is a good base to add any class onto. A pure fighter is a veritable tank!

Fighters are all about strength and constitution. A higher wisdom and dexterity help with saving throws, but those can be helped by taking feats. A fighter needs the Discipline skill, but the rest is basically fluff. A fighter should specialize in a weapon at level 4 (weapon focus is needed before that!), and should get Cleave as soon as possible.

MonkThe monk is a specialist in unarmed combat. They get a whole whack of special skills and abilities. They hit harder with their fists than fighters hit with a sword! This is a phenomenal class and should never be multiclassed! The level 20 ability, Perfect Self is too good for that! Playing a monk is a bit difficult for a beginner, but can be a very rewarding experience. They are really hard to begin play with, but become insanely powerful later in the game.

Monks need a 10 charisma and intelligence, and should have the other abilities as high as they can get them. Discipline is the only needed skill, and feats should be chosen to meet your playing style.

PaladinThe paladin is a holy warrior with many healing spells and abilities at their disposal. The paladin is a champion for good and therefore have to smite evil wherever they go. They have the same equipment proficiencies as a fighter, but less bonus feats.

Being a D&D purist, I would suggest not multiclassing a paladin, but the game doesn't seem to mind it. A few levels as a fighter will definitely help them get some much needed combat feats though.

A paladin's life is a tough one. I suggest starting them as close as you can to the following scheme: 16 strength and charisma, 14 wisdom and constitution, 10 dexterity and intelligence. You can always wait on the wisdom, since they only get the ability to cast divine spells further on in their careers. Combat feats and Discipline is all that they really need to be successful in life.

RangerThe ranger is a light fighting class. They specialize in the bow, as well as in the art of two-weapon fighting. They get the feats to do so for free. They wear lighter armor than a fighter and may suffer penalties wearing what they do. I love their animal companions!

The two feats that rangers get at first level make them a nice addition to any other tank class. Rangers would benefit immensely from being a fourth level fighter as well, since they can specialize in the weapons that they use. When coupled with a double weapon or dual-wielding the same weapon, that ability rocks! They don't really lose anything but a fifth favored enemy to do so.

Rangers need a wisdom of 14 (but can wait for it!), and a strength and dexterity scores of 16. The rest doesn't really matter. As for feats, give them bow and melee skills. They will always be able to use those. Skills should be based on how you choose to play your ranger, but Animal Empathy is always nice to have.

==Rogues are wonderfully powerful but very difficult to play! They are a class dependent on sneaking around, but may get a little boring since you are moving too slow. Their Sneak Attack ability lets them do more damage per round than a fighter, but they have to be positioned to do it properly. They make poor tanks, but with healing they can do the job just fine (they have to tank a bit in the single player game). Their one real weakness is apparent when fighting the undead. The undead are immune to Sneak Attacks, and are thus incredibly hard for rogues to solo.

Rogues do quite fine when single classed. They do benefit from a single level of ranger however. At higher levels they get awesome rogue feats like Improved Evasion, Crippling Strike and Slippery Mind. The power of a pure rogue is almost that of a pure monk!

Rogues require dexterity to survive. Give them a 16 dexterity to start, a 14 strength and intelligence, and a 10 in the other skills at least. Since they get so many skill points, a rogue can acquire mastery in any skill that they want to. Be creative. Rogues require no feats to be effective, so choose them to fit your playing style! ==

SorcererThe sorcerer is an untrained user of magic. They have the advantage of being able to cast spells without preparing them beforehand and can cast more of them than a wizard can. Their one drawback is that they don't know many spells, but they can always choose new spells whenever they level up. I would never suggest playing a sorcerer over a wizard since you can rest and prepare spells any time you want. Sorcerers are easier to begin the game with than wizards, but gain power very slowly in comparison.

Never multiclass a sorcerer or wizard. NEVER. Don't heed this advice, if you don't care about maximizing your spell lists.

Sorcerers need a high charisma and dexterity. What you do with the rest of your points is up to you. Concentration is a must, and the only required skill. As for feats, any metamagic is good, as are any passive buff feats like Lightning Reflexes and Toughness.

WizardThe wizard is the typical spellcaster that people picture in their minds. They spend their time in seclusion studying their tomes of power. A wizard is a great choice for a starting character, but please be patient with them - they die really easily at lower levels. They get less spells than a sorcerer, but have the ability to learn them all, if they have the scrolls to do so. After fifth level they tend to gain power exponentially. You may choose to specialize in one of the schools of magic. This choice is up to you, but be prepared to always lose access to good spells.

Never multiclass a sorcerer or wizard. NEVER. Don't heed this advice, if you don't care about maximizing your spell lists. The only extra advice I could give here is to start your character as a fighter then switch to a wizard. The ability to wear armor at lower levels (once you deplete your spells for the day) and to have a few fighting skills will help a lot when soloing through the game.

Wizards benefit from a high intelligence, as well as a high dexterity. They have no skill requirements, but for Concentration, and their feat requirements are also easy to fill, since they get a bunch of bonus feats, as well.